Zucchini Muffins in Parchment Paper Baking Cups

Love my zucchini muffins. I used up the rest of my shredded zucchini from last summer's harvest the other day to contribute to my work's breakfast potluck.

I used the recipe I outlined in this blog post and added golden raisins. I wish I had had walnuts to throw in because I love the crunch of nuts in muffins.

My New Pancake Tradition: Banana Walnut, Strawberry Banana, Apple Pecan and More!

I'm starting to love my pancakes.

It's now a tradition in my small family - myself, my husband and my chihuahua (who, to be clear, sticks with dog food and only gets to watch us eat pancakes) - to have pancakes on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It heralds in the weekend. It's a nice lazy, relaxing food to cook as I drink my first cup of coffee.

Zucchini Galore: My Favorite Zucchini Recipes

2012 was the year I discovered vegetable gardening. And one of my more successful plants (it grows whether you want it to or not!) was zucchini - that is, until it took over the garden and I had to remove it. It was the main culprit in overcrowding my garden, resulting in a fungus on the zucchini plant’s leaves. (I treated it with neem oil, a surprisingly versatile substance.)

Note to self: Only plant one zucchini plant next year, and give it plenty of space!

Until my zucchini got a little crazy, I fully enjoyed the rewards of my harvest. What to do with all that zucchini? Fresh sliced zucchini, sautéed, salted and served with something grilled, it is always great.

A relaxing night of cupcake baking: Banana cupcakes + vanilla cupcakes with chocolate chips

For our annual Christmas party with my husband’s side of the family, we were tasked with bringing a dessert. Instead of picking something up at the grocery store, I was inspired to bake. It was one of those days where I wanted to escape, for lack of a better word, into the kitchen. Cooking and even baking have really become stress relievers for me, which is good because being in the kitchen used to be much more stressful!

I decided to spend the night making banana cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes. The former because I had some ripe bananas that were asking to be baked, and the latter because I figured they would be fun, easy and a better dessert option for a party.